Don’t Exercise

If I can just get motivated enough to MOVE! Exercise!

If exercising is your mental block to taking control of your health, in the words of the doctor from Hee-Haw, “well, then, don’t do that!” However, you MUST change your normal routine a little to get more physical activity. Start with where you park your car. As long as safety permits, park your car farther away from entrances of stores, movies and at work. If you’ve been inactive for a while start out slow, don’t park your car at the farthest point but work up to it. Maybe the first week park 1 section over (about 10 parking spaces) from where you normally park, add a few spaces weekly until you can get to the farthest point in the lot.

Take the stairs instead of the taking the elevator. Again if you’ve been inactive for a while start out walking only “down” a flight or two, but catch the elevator when going up. Gradually work your way to walking upstairs (i.e. walk 1 flight up, and 2 flights down), until you have given up the elevator totally. There are more modifications you can make to get more physical activity, walk to the mailbox in the afternoon instead of stopping by it in your car like I do, walk your dog instead of letting your dog roam freely in the yard, park at one end of the mall & not the center, etc. These are just a few small modifications you can make to increase your physical activity.

A good place to start on how to become more physically active is to get a copy of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease (NIDDK) publication called Physical Activity and Weight Control.